Improvement in vehicle-seat locks



-J.BRUNDIGE & RLc. HALL.

VEHICLESEAT LOCK.

No.177,798. PatentedMay 23,1876.

WWW" I %(Z%% W .FETERS. FNOTO-LITHOQRAFHER, WASHINGTON u C UNITED STATES PATENT *Orrron.

JUDsoN BRUNDIGE AND, ROBERT o. HALL, or onnnn RAPIDS, IOWA.

IMPR OVEMENT IN VEHICLE-SEAT LOCKS,

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 177,798, dated May 23, 1876; application filed December 21, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JUDsoN BRUNDIGE and ROBERT C. HALL, both of Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shifting Wagon-Seats, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents an elevation of a portion of the inside of a wagon-box and seatframe, showing the seat as fastened; Fig. 2, a detached View of a portion of the seat-frame, showing the hook-iron; Fig. 3, a top viewof the slotted locking-plate; and Fig. 4,.a partial perspective of' the locking device, showing the catch-recess in the plate.

The invention relates to shifting wagonseats, which may be moved from one end to the middle of a wagon-box, or dispensed with when not required.

Our improvement consists in the combination of devices to effect the fastening and unfastening and removal of the seat, the construction and operation of which are set forth in the following description:

Upon the inner side of the seat-frame A of a wagon-seat we secure, by screws or otherwise, a hook-iron, a, which extends below said seat-frame'a short distance, and its hook portion a faces the tail-board of the wagon. We also fasten, either upon the inner upper bracerib B of the wagon-box G, or upon the wagonbox side, a metallic plate, D, which is recessed at b, so as to form, in connection with the rib B, a receiving or looking slot. Pivoted upon this plate D, so as to fall in one end of said slot 1), is a weighted catch, c, which, when in the slot, is held there by its own weight and position, and is only released therefrom by the force of the thumb. The slot b is equal in length to the width of hook-iron a, including its hook portion a, so that it may freely enter said slot and be withdrawn therefrom.

The catch 0, pivoted as above described, curves upwardly and outwardly from its pivot, and terminates in a rectangular L-tongue, c,

the outer edge of which, when in the socketmade by the partial filling of slot 12 by hookiron at, comes flush with the edge of hookiron a, while its inner edge comes flush with the wall of the slot, its size being only sufficiently less than the socket aforesaid to permit its free entrance. It can only be removed by the force of the thumb in a manner to be presently described. Thus a firm fastening is made, and by reason of its close-fitting joints it is one which avoids all rattling or jarring of its parts. When the whole device is in a locked position the tongue 0 and iron at are, in efi'ect, as one piece of iron, filling the slot. The locking is not effected by the lapping of castings, but by wedging the hook-iron in the slot by a tongue of a weighted catch.-

This is a great advantage, not only in-the simplicity and cheapness of construction, but in the freedom from fracture. This weighted catch, with its tongue, is firmly seated in the plate D, upon a cut-out recess, d, therein, which,

being cut down and around, or so cast, as shown in Fig. 4, permits the tongue o to come fully down into the socket, while its shank is seated thereon, so that its upper part is brought down in a line with the plate D, and thus be out of the way of interference by the jostling of things carried in the wagon. This construction also permits of a freer manipulation.

When it is desired to fasten the seat upon the wagon-box, the hook-iron a is passed down in the slot 1) until its hook portion a is below the plate D, when the seat or seat-frame is pushed back. In. this position the hook portion a is locked with the shoulder formed by the rear end of the slot and the under portion of said plate. To secure it in this position the weighted catch 0 is pressed into the space 'formed between the hook-iron and the front erwise, forms the sliding way for the seatframe A, and, in combination with the wagonbox side (J, affords a firm guide-hold for the seat, whereby the strain upon the castings is avoided, and any snapping which might 00- In witness whereof we have hereunto set our from undue jarring in crossing ruts preour hands in the presence of two subscribing vented. witnesses.

We JUDSON BRUNDIGE.

In a shifting wagon-seat, the combination of the weighted catch 0, having tongue c,with ROBERT HALL slot 1) and recess d of the plate D, and hook Witnesses: iron 0, a of the seat, as and for the purpose ANDREW H. ADAMS, described. 1 A. V, EASTMAN. 

